VOICE: ‘It has put us on the map...it has given us a voice to influence key decision makers’

A LOCAL charity which works with disadvantaged young people has been granted £10,000 and a national award for its work in tackling educational failure.

TwentyTwenty, based at the Schofield Centre and Woodgate in Loughborough, beat off tough competition from more than 300 charities and voluntary groups to claim the award.

The charity, which works with young people who have been excluded from school or are falling behind in their studies, applied for the CSJ (Centre for Social Justice) awards, which is open to charity and voluntary groups across the UK.

TwentyTwenty was the overall winner in the tackling educational failure catergory.

The independent think tank organisation CSJ hand out awards each year to groups which have managed to combat family breakdown and educational shortfalls.

This year, 18 charities were short listed and there were six winners.

TwentyTwenty received £10,000 worth of funding, which will be pumped back into the charity as well as helping to launch its new website.

Andy Cook, operations manager for TwentyTwenty, who spoke at the special event in London, which was attended by celebrities such as Ian Hislop and June Sarpong, as well as cabinet ministers, said: “It has put us on the map in terms of our work. It has given us a voice to influence key decision makers and make change in policy towards disadvantaged young people.”

Mike Hughes, chief executive of TwentyTwenty, added: “We are proud to say that due to the exceptional work of our staff and volunteers, and of course our amazing young people, TwentyTwenty were selected as one of the six award winners due to our success in combating educational failure.”